


The Song-Caller

by Fondation86



Category: Hurog - Patricia Briggs
Genre: F/M, NSFW, Not Beta Read, chapters of irregular lenght, mentions of abuse, spoilers for Dragon Blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-25
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-04-23 09:29:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4871704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fondation86/pseuds/Fondation86
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hurog's magic appears randomly in the bloodline, and can take differents forms. Wardwick is the first since Seleg's death to get some of the magic, but Seleg's isn't the last born with magic.<br/>His daughter has some too, and her form is tied to the dragons, and to music. When Liriel sings, she can charm any dragon. Seleg tricked her into using her ability to trap a dragon, and she had sung to banish all of the others from the land. Now, she's waiting to get in age in hope she'll be able to free the two prisonners of the castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beatings

« Father, stop this ! He's gonna die ! »

Seleg didn't shown an ounce of interest in her daugter's plea.

« Please, Father. Please ! »

« Silence Liriel. »

The young woman send the tall blond man a hateful look, not that it had any use, then moved swiftly to spare the last lashe on the man's back. It struck her face and neck, and the strong guard who was using the whip stopped and apologise to not have seen her coming in the way.

« It's okay Fenier. Liriel has chosen to. Ignore her. »

« Master ? »

« You heard me, ignore her. If my daughter is stupid enough to stay in your way, she'll learn the price of her idiocy. »

« Get away Li. » croaked the prisonner, and Liriel was surprised Oreg could still speak with how raw his throat sounded.

« No. »

Reluctantly, the guard lifted his whip, and she braced herself for the blow. The shock and the pain on her chest nearly made her fell on her knees, but she stood straight to protect her friend, despite the tears on her face. She understood better why the prisonners were always turning their back to the whip. To see the lashe coming was nearly as painful. She fell with the third, but rose even without her breath back. Her hand grazed the torn tunic of her friend behind her, and she watched the next one coming. Then, her sight become troubled for a minute, and she was transported in the caves under the castle. Even from there, she heard the screams of her friend.

« Oreg, stupborn beast, why did you do that ! »

The cave wasn't one she was familliar with, and it was closed on each sides, merely lightened by a fluoroche. The only passage had to be above, because she was unable to see any limit there. She wouldn't be able to get out without Oreg's help.

At least, it wasn't bare. Liriel wondered if it was the mage's room, because it scented like him, and she knew no-one else who would feel comfortable enough to sleep in the cave, or even would be able to found the room. She used the running water on the opposite side of the carved in the stone bed to clean herself.

The three lashes hurted, but only the one on her face had bleed. She wasn't vain, and hoped she would keep a scar, to remind daily her father of his acts. Not that she expected a lot of remorses from the man who had used her gift to emprison a dragon under the dungeon.

It felt like an eternity before the screams above stopped and the foetal form of Oreg appeared on the bed, bleeding and nearly unconscious. She ran to him, carefull to not touch him.

« Silly boy. »

« Li... »

« Hush. You don't need to speak. And don't send me back. Let me take care of you for once. »

He sighed, not in shape to say anything, and she tore another bit of her dress to wet and clean his wounds. He hissed in pain, but she had nothing to help him with that.

« You don't... »

This time, she took the risk to press her fingers to his lips, feeling the cracks brought by the pain.

« I need to do it Oreg. You should have let me take the blows for you. »

She felt the pain it took him to push her hand away, and let him.

« Only the Hurogmeistre can kill me, Li. You have not such luck, and Seleg would still have me beaten. There are clean sheets in the chest. »

It had taken painfully long for the man to be able to say this, being cut by several gasps, and she knelt by the chest, retrieving a sheet and a bowl she filled at the source.

« That is not luck to suffer like you have today. You know I'll die a thousand time for you. Drink. »

He obeyed, leaning heavily on her as he tried to sit.

« I'll have to peel your tunic off and clean the wounds. »

« Do it. »

He did what he could to help her, but she had to do most of the work and helped him to lie on his stomach. And she felt slightly dizzy because his back was worse than she had thought. But she began to sing, a healing song, despite having sworn to never use again the gift that give her voice the power of calling in Hurog's magic.

« Li, don't... »

She ignored the mage, and hoped he wouldn't send her away with his magic like he had done it earlier, and grazed his back with her hand, directing the flux of magic on the bloody mess. She saw the flesh knit itself together as the man sometimes whimpered from the pain. The healing was doing in minutes what should have taken days, but she ignored how to make it painless.

She stopped her threnody when most of the wounds were healed, her own energy fleeing her. Oreg was either sleeping or passed out, the healing taking a worse tool on him. She looked at his delicates features, and caressed his cheek.

« I'll free you my friend. When I'll be the Hurogmeistre, I'll end your servitude. »

After whispering her promise, Liriel settled to sleep in the man's arms. It was the only place she felt safe, and she couldn't remember a night she hadn't slept with him at her side. Not since she had been three year old, dragged out of her bed by an ennemy of her father, tortured and only alive because the mage had rescued her. Since, she had only been able to sleep when he was there, and the dragon had liked to spoil the little girl who always seemed to see him.

And she felt that he too liked the moment where he sat on her bed and told her stories about the past time and the dragons. About flying through the sky, and diving into water. She was the only one here to listen to him, and as she was getting older, there was only the sanctity of her room that allowed their friendship, because she was too old to speak to invisible people.

So Oreg always slept in her bed, even now she was nearing her seventeenth birthday. And as innocently as he did when she was three. She loved him, but she was realistic. He probably only saw her like a child, having seen her from birth. In add, Oreg was Hurog's slave, bound to the castle, bound to the Hurogmeistre. And he wasn't real for most people.

Even the man who had wipped him earlier had no idea who he was beating. With her intervention, he was probably thinking Oreg was her lover, and would know he was a wizard after her disappearance, but he would forget. And she couldn't marry a man who wouldn't age, nor gave her a child to inherit the domain after her. Her duty toward Hurog said otherwise, and she was dreading the day Seleg would find a man good enough to marry her.

At least, Oreg had promised her a husband could only be Hurogmeistre in name, but that it would be to her the land would answer, and the ring go after her father's death. The despised silver band was the reason her friend was trapped here, but it would give her the power to break the spell. She longed for the day the dragon would be able to fly again.

Still cracked lips pressed against her forehead, in the gentle and chaste kiss to reassure a child there was no monsters around Oreg always used and she fell asleep.

 


	2. Sweet morning?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after.

The lingering pain awoke Liriel at dawn, but the eternally young man was still sleeping. It was unusual, and a proof of how much energy the healing had taken from him. If she had felt that much pain for three lashes, it would be worse for Oreg, and she hoped his sleep was painless. It was only when she was out of bed she understood he had teleported them in her bedroom. Useless expanse of energy, but at least no one would be too scared by her sudden disapearance.  
On the good side, beeing up meant she could relieve her bladder. After that, she would made her way to the kitchen to take some food, and some herbs she knew would be good for the pain and help with the healing. If the dragon was still sleeping and had not already vanished somewhere by the time she was back. She sung softly to cloak him, not sure if he had done it himself because she always saw through, and left. She also hoped he would feel her magic and wait for her if he awoke.

She had grabbed what she could, and come back as fast as possible, but the dragon was still sleeping. Even if he looked in pain now, maybe because he had stopped trying to hide once he had felt her leave. Liriel let the healings herbs in the bowl of water she had brought, and began to sing for the warmth of a fire, making the water boil very fast. One of the few tricks Oreg had taught her.  
Liriel wasn't a real mage, being unable to use runes, but Hurog's magic was responding to her voice. It was unusual, but magic had several forms. For her friend, it was because her magic was tightly bound to the dragons. She was able to call them and make them still or obey her. Even if she sworn to never use this part of her gift again, not since her father had used her to capture and emprison a dragon under the castle nearly three years before. Not that she had knew he would do it, Seleg had only said he wanted to see an exemple of her gift on a dragon that wasn't Oreg, then betrayed all of them by having his men jump on Salya and retrain the creature, but one innocent victim was enough.

Once the herbs had changed into a semblance of a paste, she went back to the bed, and began to apply it on Oreg's still naked back. It would numb him a little, and it was all she could offer him. Healings herbs weren't something her father had judged usefull for her to learn, and Oreg couldn't taught her everything in the fews hours they spend together daily. She was happy her friend was still sleeping, because she felt the blush on her cheeks as she touched the pale skin. Liriel pouted at her own stupidity and concentrated on her work, then covered him before resolutely leaving the bed.

She was sitting on the windowsill, embroiding a tunic, when the man finally awoke.  
« Li ? »

The syllabe was all she needed to run at his side, and she freed him from the mostly dried herbal paste.  
« I'm here. Don't move. How are you ? »  
« Not as dead as I wished. »  
It rang so true in the girl's ears that her heart broke a bit more for him.  
« Oreg ? »  
He made a pitiful attempt at lifting himself up, and offered her a weak smile, like to erase the proofs of the pain rippling through him.  
« Do not trouble yourself little one. I will not die, even if I have nothing worth living for. Even the pain will fade away, you should haven't gotten in trouble for me. »  
Liriel walked away to throw the paste, anything to not have to let him see her distress, but she asked noneless.  
« What happened ? »  
« Salya is dead. That's how the raiders have been send away last night. »

It gutted Liriel. She knew it was coming, that the dragon's was more and more weakened each time her father took of it's blood, but it was still soon for it to be an accident. And she couldn't stand to know her father had murdered the beautiful creature. Like if reading in her mind, the mage added.  
« It's not your fault Li. »  
« Yes it is. »  
« You were a scared child. »  
« But I'm not one anymore. »

Maybe Oreg would never see that, but Liriel wouldn't let his views stop her. The death had brought a powerful magic to the land, she had felt it without knowing the source, but she couldn't let her father get away with that crime. Even if it meant sacrifying Hurog. She had already sung to make all the dragons flew the land, but she couldn't let Salya's body be used to give more power to the murderer. Dragons used to eat their deads to prevent that, but Oreg couldn't change in his dragon's form, and was forbidden to touch Salya anyway. Liriel was only prevented to free the creature from its magic bindings, but now it was dead... she may prevent her father to get more power out of it.  
She carefully not looked at Oreg as she put the water and the food closer of the bed for him, her resolve clear in her mind. He caught her elbow, a weak hold that was only to get her attention.  
« You're going to do something stupid, Li, aren't you ? »  
« Stop treating me like a child. I don't need you to watch over me anymore. »

He suddenly yanked her on the bed, rolling them despite his obvious pain until she was prisonner under him.  
« You really believe I'm not seeing you aren't a child anymore Liriel ? »  
She was lost in the violine-blue eyes above her, and the weird turn of events. Was she hearing him right, or was her fantasies twisting his words into what she wished to hear? It was hard to tell with his body weighting on her, his hand on her face, hers trapped against his naked chest.   
« You should be resting. You're hurt. »  
He smirked, his head close to her's, and he whispered.  
« That's not an answer little one. »  
She closed her eyes, half-hoping for a kiss, but mostly to prevent herself to steal one.  
« Oreg, you're scaring me. »  
He slightly moved away, but his hand caressed gently her blushing face and she was able to hear the amusement in his voice when he said.  
« You're not a very good liar. Tell me what you really think. »  
« No. Let me go. »  
« I just told you you're not a good liar Liriel. Don't give orders you don't want to be followed. Give me the orders you want me to obey. »

The taunt in his voice was too much to not break through her defenses, but she knew exactly what he was doing. Trying to seduce her so she would stay here, safe. Using her feelings against her so she would forget there was a dead dragon under the basement, and not go after her father, like he had probably seduced some of his pasts masters to distract them. She liked it better when he pretended to be oblivious of what she felt.  
« Please Oreg. Don't do that. It's not right. »  
He nuzzled her cheek, his breath a caress in itself.  
« It's okay. I'll be your's one day anyway. »  
It was said with just the hint of hidden sadness only she could deceal in his voice, and she turned her back to him, twisting in his hold, hoping she'll be able to conceal the tears she felt welling up under her eyelids. He let her go then, and she felt his hand hovering above her shoulder.  
« Li ? Liriel ? What's wrong ? »  
The young woman refused to answer him, trying to control her breathing so he couldn't prouve she wanted to cry. He pressed a kiss in her hair.  
« Li, I'm sorry if I missread your feelings. I really thought you liked me. »

It was the last blow, and she whispered.  
« I love you, silly boy. But I don't want you to believe that one day you'll have to obey everything I'll ask, I don't want you to do anything because it's an order. I want you to love me back, I want to mean enough for you so you don't want to die anymore, I want you to see me as woman instead of the child you were once responsible of. But I know it's never going to happen. »

She turned to face him better as she repeated the promise she had made so many times, hoping this time he would believe her.

« The day you'll be mine will be the day you'll be free. Even if it means I'll have to learn to sleep alone because you'll probably leave Hurog. Now, I don't want you to tease me anymore about what I feel for you. I love you, you don't love me back, and even if you did, you'll never be the one I'll have to marry, so it's fine. It's much better that way, as you'll outlive me by centuries and I don't want you to suffer. Can we never speak about it ever again ? »  
He hugged her, holding her gently and carefully like if she was hurt, and she let him. Oreg passed his hand into her hair like he always did when she was crying or frightened.  
« I'm sorry. I never meant to mock you feelings Li. It came to my attention a long time ago that you were not a child anymore, and that your friendly affection morphed into something deeper. You became an incredibly attractive woman, and I was expecting that anyday you would try or ask for a kiss. Maybe I can't be your husband, but I could be your lover, if you let me be. »

She shook her head, not wanting to cave to his sweets words. Because the ones she had wanted to heard weren't there, and for all her love for the trapped dragon, she knew he could still be manipulating her. After all, he never believed her when she said her first act would be to free him, and he had no reason to want to upset her before she has power on him. If she was half as cruel as her father, she may make him regret to not die.   
« Look at me Li ? »  
She finally raised her head at his coaxing tone, slowly and minding his injuries, to plunge her silver eyes into the blue's ones.  
« Do you know you're beautiful ? »  
He had told her that a thousand times, since she was a child. Genuine words that warmed her heart, but didn't meant a lot. But now... It had changed, exactly in the way she had feared it would each time the thought of kissing him crossed her mind. She could feel her cheeks burn her.  
« I thought we agreed you wouldn't tease me anymore. »  
« I'm being serious Li. I understood you'll refuse a lover only acting as such out of duty, and it is not what I am offering. For now, you have no power on me, so you can't force me into anything. Do you want me to kiss you ? Because I would like that. »  
She carefully read his face, trying to find hints he was somehow lying, but he was as serious as he told her. And she desesperately wanted to believe it.  
« Only if you really want to ? »  
« I do. »  
She trembled as his lips pressed against her's, lost in the warm of the blood rushing in her face and the alieness of the kiss. He finally let her go, and she wondered.  
« Is ? Was it okay ? »  
She licked her lips, already missing his warmth, and he chuckled.  
« Yes little one. It was good. »

Little one. She wondered how much of his speech was merely his way to lull her into forgetting her father's crime. Oreg pressed their lips again, not letting her think too much. Sweet and slowly deepening the kiss, again and again until she was breathless and her body full of stranges and news sensations.  
« Do you want me as your lover Li ? »  
She thanked the fact she was too breathless and fazed to answer him right away, and studied Oreg's face to make sure he was really willing. There was an amused glint in his eyes, but also signs of tiredness despite his smile.  
« You're hurt. It's not okay. »  
« I'm in good enough shape to make love with you, just nothing very acrobatic nor rough, but you're not ready for that anyway. Do you want me to ? »  
She wanted, but in the same time, it didn't sounded like a good idea.  
« I'm not sure. »  
He carressed her hair then, nodding his understanding.  
« When you'll be ready then. I promise I'll be gentle. »  
Liriel tentatively pressed a kiss on his lips, not closing her eyes this time to judge his reaction. She wanted to touch him, but wasn't sure she could. Their chests were pressed against one-another, and she knew his back and shoulders had to still feel raw. Anything safe was either too low for her reach, or blocked by the arm which hand was lost in her hair. She finally settled to pass it between their bellies, trying to not tickle him. Oreg misunderstood her gesture and moved away.  
« I didn't meant to push you away. I just wanted to touch you. Is it okay ? »

He smirked, amused by her shyness, and put his hand on her's, guiding her.  
« Yes, Li, it's more than okay. Here maybe ? »  
She gasped and blushed furiously when he made her brush his swollen member, even if it was through the material of his breeches.  
« No. Just touch you, feel you. I would embrace you, but you're too hurt. I wouldn't touch you there. »  
« Why not ? I'm not hurt there, and it would feel good if you touched me. »  
She stared at him, his expression challenging and amused.  
« It would ? »  
Oreg laughed at her innocence.  
« Yes, very good. Do you want me to teach you how to pleasure a man,  with only your hands ? »  
She nodded shyly, and refused to look away from his face as he untied his breeches. He was amused by her reaction, even if not entierely concentrated on what he was doing. He then guided slowly Liriel's hand on his hard member.  
« Here. »  
She couldn't refrain her murmur of surprise when she finally touched the hard flesh.  
« It's soft. »  
« What did you expected ? »  
« I don't know. It's supposed to hurt so... »  
He bend toward her and kissed her softly.  
« It only hurts if the man is selfish, and the first time for most women, but not very long, not if the man is careful enough. You can look at it, you know ? »  
She did, just because his tone was challenging her, and she would never let him win. It was big and red, and slightly wet at the tip, and she wondered how it would fit inside her. Oreg took her hand, and pressed his lips on it, muttering.

« I'll be very gentle Li. »  
She jolted when he licked her palm, but he grinned reassuringly, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Enough to relax her.  
« It'll slide better if it's wet. You still wanna learn ? »  
« You could have warned me. »  
He chuckled at her indignation.  
« I could have. »  
Again, he guided her to his hard lenght, making her close her fist around. She felt clumsy as she followed his lead to stroke him, afraid she might hurt him, but his lips joined her's again, and she felt him move in her fist. His breathe became ragged, and for a moment, Liriel thought he was in pain, but when she faltered, his grip on her hand become more forcefull, and he whispered at her to not stop, that it was good. Understanding it was a sign of his pleasure, she tightened her grip on his now slick lenght, and very soon, he came with a grunt, white liquid flooding out of him as he spasmed in her hand. He kissed her deeply and hungrily, and she closed her eyes.  
« I love you so much Oreg. »  
He looked away at her words, and she wondered if it was guilt on his face. But maybe it was just because she knew he wasn't really loving her.  
« Oreg, it's okay if you don't love me back. I'm not expecting you to say the same, but I need to tell you. Is it a problem ? »  
«It's not. But we should sleep. You used too much energy to heal me, and you're not that strong little one. And you tired me. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to take your maidenhood after all. »  
She blushed at the way he said the last sentences.  
« Silly boy. I'm fine. Sleep, I'll clean up and join you. »  
He watched her intently as she cleaned her hands and the white stains on her dress, then the ones on the bed. She suddenly turned to him.  
« You healed me, didn't you ? I have no pain left. »  
He nodded.  
« Those lashes never were yours to take Li. »  
« But you shouldn't have taken them either. »  
He took her in his arms and closed his eyes, and she watched him drift to sleep pretending she would do the same. She knew him enough by then to know when he was really asleep, and she waited a moment after before sliding out of the bed, using the time she was laying next to her lover to compose the song she would have to sing under the castle.


	3. Liriel's duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Oreg's distraction isn't enough to keep Liriel under his protection.

Hurog answered Liriel when she went close to the wall, letting her use a secret passage that usually only opened for Oreg. It took her longer to find the caves than it would if she was with the mage, but she finally ended in the cavern where laid Salya, the beautiful dragon now dead but still chained. She pressed her hand under the large eye now forever close, and whispered.  
« I am so sorry Salya. So sorry. »

Liriel stepped back then, hands held in front of her, and began her song-calling. The fire answered her very fast, but she had to force her voice for it to become hot enough to burn through the dragon's skin. The young woman braced herself forthe hard work before her, knowing she had never gotten such a challenge before. She was good at charming dragons, not that much at modelling Hurog's magic into anything, even if fire was the easiest element to call and felt a little dragon-like. Nothing mattered but to keep singing despite the acrid fumes surrounding her, so the dragon's corpse would be reduced to useless ashes, not used by greedy humans needing power.

Liriel sang through the shouting she heard, the fall she took, and kept singing when the first blows fell on her. It was harder, her lungs not always filled with air, but she concentrated on the song and the magic. She sang to keep the fire going despite the pain and the betrayal, until she felt the blade slicing her throat to make her stop, and her fire stopped, letting a half-burned carcass she could still see despite the panic and the useless attempt to stop the blood to leave her body or drown her lungs. As she caught a flash of silver, she had the fleeting thought she would never be able to free any of Hurog's dragons, because the ring would never be her's.   
« What have you done ! »  
It was strange to hear Oreg's voice, so clear despite the fog in her mind. The grunted answer of her father was lost for her though. The only important thing was that her protector had taken her into his arms and nothing else mattered. She was too numb for even panic. Something wet touched her cheek, but it was okay. Oreg was here,his arms warms around her, and it meant she was safe. She could sleep now.  
« I loved you Li. I ignored it but I loved you. »  
She wanted to call him a silly boy again, to use the past tense but couldn't, and when he pressed his lips on her forefront, she fell into the darkness.


	4. Oreg's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oreg's side of the previous chapter.

As Liriel snuggled in his arms for the nap he had suggested, Oreg felt the guilt filling him in crushing waves. She was innocent, looked up to him, and he had betrayed her by using her attraction, her feelings for his own purpose. Despite all her claims, he knew the girl would never be able to free him, because the only way to do so was to kill him, and she hadn't it in her. But if he possessed her, if Seleg learned that his slave had deflowered his precious daughter and heir, maybe it would be enough for the warrior to kill him this time.

But, after hearing Lireil's reluctant admittance of her love and the reasons she had tried to hide it, after hearing that she expected to never be loved back and thought it was best that way, Oreg had felt the guilt slowly sweeping in. Not enough to change his mind, no. Just enough to know he'll have to be careful of her heart and never let her know he was using her. At least not beyond keeping her from going after her father for Salya's death, since he knew she was conscious of that part. He would give her what she longed for, be her lover for a few weeks instead of one day like he had first thought, so she could have memories and not regrets. Less than if she had only be once in his arms. She wouldn't hate him for this.

And she had been so sweet, so shy when he had touched her, kissed her, and then, despite reacting to his touch, her desire clear on her flushed face, she had refused to offer him her body. He knew he could have convinced her if he wanted, but it hadn't felt right. He would seduce her properly, made her feel loved, even if he had to lie to her, before making love with her. It would be the first time in so long he'll be making love and not being the whore of one of the hurogmestre or another. The first time it'll be his choice, for his own purpose instead of a decision forced by his master's order.

For a bref instant before falling asleep with the now familiar weight in his arms, he wondered what she would be like as hurogmestre. If the power would make her greedy, like the others. If her childhood affection for him was only that, a childish thing, that would pass when she'll have the keep to protect and run, and the use of the castle's slave become a very useful tool. He guessed he would never know, and regretted he would leave her ruins to regn from. But Liriel was strong, and she loved Hurog enough to sacrifice herself to it's reconstruction.

 

Oreg awoke to a weird tingling from the Hurog's magic. It felt like an urging, and he shook the sleep away to find the bed cold and empty. Liriel had snuck out, without waking him, and he had to search her through the castle, hoping she wasn't antagonizing her father for his deed. But what he saw froze him a second. The cavern was full with a thick smoke, and he could see his master beating someone. And there was only one person who knew how to get into the cavern, in case the magic song resounding against the walls alone wasn't a proof enough to let him know who was the victim.

« Li. »

He teleported when he saw Seleg lift his sword, but by the time he was in the cave, the song had stopped, replaced by an horrible gurgling. Oreg stared for a second at the bloodied sword and its bearer.

« What have you done ? »

He didn't listened for an answer. The only thing he knew was that Liriel needed him, and he took her in his arms, retreating in his cave-room. It was already too late, her lungs so full of blood that none of his healing spells could prevent her death, and he felt the tears rolling on his cheeks as she sort of snuggled against him, abandonning herself with the innocent trust he'll always protect her, and closing her silver eyes.

« I loved you Li. »

At the second the words meant for comfort fell from his mouth, he knew they were true.

« I ignored it but I loved you. »

He saw her lips move, knowing her enough to be able to read on it a mangled _« Silly Boy »_ , the words she had always used for him, since she was three and under his protection, and he pressed his lips on her so pale and cold forefront. He knew exactly the second she was gone, because his own heart was seized with a searing pain he had never experienced before, but whose origin he understood all too well. Dragons bonded for life, and followed each other in the grave. The castle trembled around them, sign of how the curse unleashed upon him was conflicting with his profound nature, and for unterminable seconds, or maybe hours, he hoped his wish was being granted, and Liriel was finally freeing him from his life as slave. But after that agony, the pain receeded, letting behind an hollow ache.  

When he felt strong enough to look at the cooling corpse in his arms, he laid her on his bed, and began to clean her body and close her wound. He couldn't heal Liriel, but he could make her look as perfect than in her life. He changed her into a golden silk dress embroided with hurog-blue dragons he had planned to offer her for her wedding or coronation, whatever would have come first. After that, he brushed her hair, letting them run free on her shoulders. It took him hours before he was able to leave her in his alcove, laying on newer beddings, all silk and fur, and he tucked the comforter around her like he used to when he had to leave at her rest without waking her. Finally Oreg traced the rune of Diamond on her body to protect her against Time's outrages.

« Sleep well Li. »

 

 


	5. the carved curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still Oreg's POV.

Oreg waited as long as he could to answer his master's call, and then, he glared at the warrior, forgetting the obsequiousness that had protected him most of his life. If he dared, he would kill the man, but it was something he wasn't allowed to.

« Make her disappear. No one can ever know. »

The mage refrained to say anything, barely nodded, and disappeared like to do as he was told. He was glad to not have been ordered to give her body back, because he wasn't sure he could. Not without stealing her back the second he got the chance. She would be better in the caves under her loved keep than in the dirt of a tomb.

But he couldn't go back to her. No yet, or he would crumble. So instead, he went to her room, musing through her things, no sign of her disappearance made. The sheets were still rumaged, her combs forgotten on her dresser, just next to the cloth she had used to clean their lovemaking. He burned the thing. How had he been unable to recognise then he loved her ? Liriel may have stayed at his side if only he had told her.

But maybe not. After all, Liriel was stupborn, and she had played her hand well, waiting until he fell asleep to escape his vigil and do what she felt right. What Oreg himself should have done and he decided to finish it once given the chance. For now, Seleg was still in the cave, with Salya's corpse.

 

One glance through the window told him the night was already installed, moon hight in the sky, and the rest of the castle was already nearly asleep. He went to the main hall, and began to carve words in the wall. Each letter was exactly as tall as the girl laying under the rock for all eternity, not that he expected anyone to notice. It was sunrise when he was finally done.

« What is that ! »

« A warning. » smirked Oreg at his master's question. It wasn't like he had anything left to loose. The girl who had brought him some joy, some solace was now colder than any stone of the castle.

« Tell me what you wrote ! »

The mage felt his anger at the murderer of his love inflate. The scoundrel didn't even knew to read !

« It says that the chtonian beast will be the fall of Hurog. You cursed your own keep pretending to protect it and spilling the wrong bloods. »

When the first fist connected, Oreg thought he would get what he wished, joining his beloved in death, but once he was helpless and too hurt to move, Seleg ordered him to stay here until ordered the contrary, and called one of his guards, asking him to come back the heavier whip he'll be able to find in the stables, and the strongest guards.

« Coward, you can't ev.... »

« Shut up. » Ordered wickledly the man.

Before the first lash fell on his skin, Oreg understood that Seleg had lost all sanity. Maybe it wasn't even a recent thing, but he had been too concentrated on Liriel, even more those last few years with her guilt after Salya's capture, to notice it. He sworn that never again he would make the mistake to let a child distract him from now. He should keep trying to not exist when not ordered to act, like he had before saving the small girl fourteen years prior. It was the only thing he had the time to think before a furry of leather lashes ended on his shoulders, easily ripping through his clothes and drawing blood. He stood as ordered as long as he was able to, then the pain of desobeying a direct order was nearly worse than the blows on his ragged body, and he welcomed the darkness, despite knowing he would wake from them.


	6. Fleeting being.

The girl was disoriented and numb. It was dark, but she could feel Hurog's magic surrounding her. It was comforting, somehow reminding her of warm arms wrapped around her. She didn't knew who's arms, just that they were safe and felt like the magic. She had a brief moment of panic because she didn't remembered anything, but felt Hurog's magic nudge her until she calmed. It didn't mattered if she had her memories or not. She had no use for them, not yet.

She was in a cave, but not one under Hurog's fortress, and not one carved by man or water. She could see where dragon's claws had eroded the rock, and hear the waves crashing below. She only had to go to the opening to know where she was, despite never having been here before. In her mind, a soothing voice was telling her about this place, those cliffs above the ocean, carved by dragons to keep their eggs and hatchlings in safety from human's greediness until they were ready to take flight. But this cave was long emptied. Her fault, she remembered, or the magicwhispered to her, even if she didn't knew exactly what she had done. She thought she could ask someone, but even if a face with Hurog-blue eyes came in her mind, she didn't remembered the name. She wasn't sure if names were important. Just that the blue eyed man was, and he was probably the one who's arms felt so safe, and the voice so kind. Yes, he was very important, more than anything else.

She wished to see him, and the world blurred around her. This time, she was in Hurog Keep's main hall. There were no traces of the blue eyed man though, just a very large man who made her stomach recoil just by being under her eyes, and two guards. It was when the whip cracked she saw the man. The important one. The one she loved. The realisation would have marvelled her if he had not been a bloodied corpse, in a state no-one could survive, but she somehow knew he would.

« Stop ! »

She had screamed, but no-one had seemed to heard her, like no one had cared she saw the scene, or had walked in. She jumped to the man holding the whip, hoping to disarm him, but he passed through her, and she heard another feable whimper behind her as she tried to understand what was going on. She wasn't solid, and she felt the panic wash over her until she was again in the cavern above the ocean, cradled in Hurog's magic. Something was wrong with her, it was like a nightmare. Why the one she loved was being beaten, and why wasn't she able to defend him, or to remember his name. Why couldn't she do anything, didn't she remembered anything save that Hurog and the man were important, and that she needed to help him. 

This time, Hurog's magic didn't complied with her wish to see him. She fought with the force swirling around her, as invisible as she seemed to be, but knew she couldn't win, and that the magic had it's own life, it's own power. She was prisonner of it, or part of it. She wasn't sure. And as she was loosing hope to ever see the blue eyed man again, she finally found herself anew in the castle. In a room that seemed familiar, but didn't mattered as much as the bloodied body on the rug. She knelt as his side, wishing she knew how to calm his pain, but he was inconscious.

« Don't die please. »

She stopped her hand just shy of his face, not sure she'll could survive the deception to not be able to caress him. Hurog's magic whispered something, and she knew she'd be able to touch him, even if he would be the only one. And his skin was soft under her fingertips. soft and a bit cold. She pillowed his head on her lap, and ran her fingers through his hair. She wanted to sing, but didn't knew what, so she stayed silent. From the magic around her, she knew he wouldn't die, even if he wished to, and wished she could help, could do more than watching him sleep.

Hours passed, and she didn't felt hungry, thirsty, nor even tired. It was like all it mattered was the man in her laps, slowly warming and healing. He awoke once, but fell back in his darkness as soon. Hurog magic told her she had not a lot of time and should go back to the cavern above the cliff, but she was stupborn, and waited. Finally, when the light changed again, the man's eyes opened and fluttered, searching her's, and he spoke despite his dry throat.

« I'm sorry I ever planned to use you. »

The girl wasn't sure he was talking to her, but listened to his confession anyway, heard him apologise for his sins, until he conclued.

« You took my heart with you Li. I ignored one could live without a heart. »

« Hush, I'm here now silly boy. »

The name that felt from her lips sounded right. Her lover, because she had no doubt he was her lover, and she was that 'Li' he apologised to, was acting as a silly boy if he believed she was bothered by his tale. He had just not know he loved her, but they were soul-bonded. She knew she wasn't born on the cliff, but somehow now, it was like she was, because she felt what he told her about their hearts being one. He didn't said more after that, tired by his speech, and not really believing she was here. Once he fell asleep again, she felt too tired to resist more and let Hurog's magic hold her instead of her lover. It wouldn't matter, as long she could be here when he needed her.


	7. Watching ghost

It took her years to remember who she was, or mostly who's ghost. Her memories came back, slowly, without orders or reasons, and didn't always felt like they were her's. The one of her death left her in a panic Hurog's magic had a very hard time to calm down, and that only really settled when she was allowed to join Oreg in his bed, even if it was only until the dragon mage awoke. Liriel couldn't let the mage see her, and each time it may happen, she was sent back by the land to the cavern above the ocean.

Even before her memory was complete, she learned to use Hurog's magic, and the limits she was subjected to. Magic only reacted to her voice, as before, but she had no idea of it when she started experimenting. And the flow of magic surrounding her was keeping her from exhausting herself, and directing her to the tasks her land needed her to do. She became Hurog's voice, and the mages of Hurog's blood, most of them bastards from the castle, could feel and understand the ripples she caused to transmit them messages of their land. It helped them to fight somehow the slow corruption of the ground, find things and preys, a place to hide for the ones who were bullied, but it was not much, barely enough to assure their survival. And it quickly tired her, so she had to sleep again, for weeks or months.

Her only reward, sort of, was to be allowed to watch her lover in his own solitary life of slave, serving hurogmeistre after hurogmeistre. Liriel was only being allowed to soothe him when one of his masters had been particulary reckless, and the mage too lost in his pain that he would imagine she was a mere hallucination, born from the pain and the despair to not even be able to take his own life off.

Oreg had elected domicile in her old bedroom, and it wasn't her memory that told her that, but the mage himself, one day he was caressing the rag doll on a shelve, asking the toy if it remembered Liriel, and wishing to be in its place, so he wouldn't long for her. The fact he had taken upon her bedroom made her smile because he used his hability to make the castle obey his thoughts so no-one else could find it. She found it both cute and sad that he clung to her old things, but she liked watching him weave soft fabrics on her old loom, and embroid them the way he had learned with her. Or at least pretended to learn, because she wasn't sure he had not faked ignorance so she'll be more motivated to learn herself, and it was the kind of things he was able to do with his magic. She often sang for him when he was working on a piece, even knowing he couldn't hear her, not using any magic, and she sometimes felt like his loom was working at the pace of her song, but maybe it was the other way around.

The worse times were the ones were the Hurogmeistre decided to use Oreg in their bed, or to prostitute him, without caring about his feelings on the matter, and she hated herself for her foolishness in braving her long-dead father. Had she lived, he would have not to suffer those humiliations and pains, because she would have fred him. Instead, she sat on the rug waiting for him, because after being held under those men, he always refused to lay in her old bed. She kept watch, wishing she could at least wipe out his tears, and sung a barely audible lullaby as he stared to the wall, longing for a death never coming.

 As generations passed, Liriel found out she had been the last in the main Hurog bloodline born with magic. Some of the bastards and their descends may have some of the land's magic, but even them were rare and rarer, and no one was as powerfull she or her father had been. She could feel the land weep for its lost dragons, and the stain the bones still rotting under the castle were doing to Hurog's magic. Without the dragons, Hurog was slowly decaying, becoming a cursed land. Liriel herself had a harder time to visit and stay at the castle. She needed more sleep, more time regenerating her powers in the cavern above the cliff to be able to help even so slowly in her birth place. Not that her magic was very usefull, but on the off chance she may be able to help one good lord, she tried. Nothing helped against the poisonning of the land and their blood though.

 


	8. Spark of hope

Nothing helped against the corruption of the land, until Liriel felt a spark of hope rising into Hurog's magic.

For her, it meant she was deprived of going out of the cavern, like in a forced hibernation, and she slept, or faded, she wasn't sure. The magic that gave her her ghostly second life had too much emprise on her for her to be able to fight it. All she knew was that when Hurog awoke her, she was compelled with a mission, the one for which she had been forced to save her strenghs for nearly a century. It hurt when she saw what had happened of her beloved lands during her long sleep. If her mission failed, Hurog would become a dead land, without any magic left. It was their last chance.  
So, Liriel sang, watching a man with the silver ring whose name she ignored at the moment have sex with a young woman, and she could feel the magic in the woman's blood. A purer, untainted magic. Liriel's song was weaved around the couple, then to the woman's womb. It was a longer and harder song than even conjuring a fire hot enough to burn the dragon's body, but the only thing that may help to compensate her failure. Her song was meant to keep the worse of Hurog's tainted blood out of the boy that was being created that night.

Liriel witnessed the newlywed's joy to be pregnant, still softly singing to protect the baby, saw the woman's excitation to feel the child move, the pain of delivering the healthy boy, for once untainted by the land's curse. She also saw the mix of pride and anger of the father, when it was revealed his heir hadn't recieved Hurog-blue eyes, but his mother's brown. She knew without needing to witness it that the man was one who was hurting Oreg, but she was too exhausted to even try and manifest to her lover. She had to keep the baby safe, as he was Hurog's hope, and she had somehow become Hurog's slave, even if her master was gentlier than any of Oreg's ever were.

The boy thrived, solid and strongh, but with a real brain under his brawn, and a deep love for Hurog. He was mage-born, and not tainted by Hurog's darkness, by Liriel's father's crime. But his own father... The man was worse than Seleg. When Wardwick was seven, the little boy made a mistake. A childish, harmless mistake, but the man slapped him so hard he drew blood.  
For a second, Liriel was pulled back in a memory and saw the sword coming out bloodied from out of her own throat,she felt the panic rising in her chest. But as the boy stared at his hand, too shaken and disbelieved to understand, Liriel caught sight of his mother's fleeing instead of protecting her boy, and rage replaced panic and memories. A rage so profound she felt the castle's floor under her feet, knowing she had become at least partially visible and providing as such enough a distraction to give time to the intelligent child to hurry away. Then, she tried to forgot she saw the hurt and longing on Oreg's face.

Liriel knew she could be with him. Not for long, sure, and it would take by far too much of her energy, but she'd be able to if she wanted to. She could take a solid form and throw herself in his arms, enjoy him for a few days or weeks. She could if she sacrified the boy who was Hurog's last hope. But she couldn't be selfish. She was responsible of the slow desolation of her land, because she had all of her memories, including the song that had lead to Salya's capture then death. So she would protect Wardwick until he'll become the Hurogmeistre, even if it took her whatever energy she had and meant she was finally unable to ever see the dragon-mage she loved. Oreg already believed her dead, and the pain of loosing her again wouldn't be enough to compensate the few weeks together they could have. Saving Hurog was worth her own pain.

So she watched over the growing boy, as best as she could with his father being more and more violent toward him and his mother loosing herself in drugs. Wardwick was a good boy, and doing all he could to protect his younger siblings from their father's ire. He accused himself when his brother made a mistake, and tried his best to prevent the last born, a cute little girl, to be seen by the man. Liriel was able to help him, because Wardwick was mage born, the first of the bloodline since her, Hurog's magic flowing in his veins and allowing him to react to the ripples her songs caused, finding hiding places or items, impossible shortcuts when outside, as she was sometimes able to mold the land like Oreg did with the castle. But it wasn't always enough to spare him the harsh beatings his father decided he deserved, usually for imaginary offenses.

Then, as the boy neared his twelth birthday, it was spoken about sending him to learn magical artcraft, away from Hurog, and Liriel breathed a little better. But two days before Wardwick was due to leave, his father caught a rage no-one saw before, and beat him an inch to death. He would have killed his own son, if she had not been able to sing call Hurog's magic in a force that paralyzed the man. Liriel took the guise of a servant, and made herself solid enough to able to carry her protege to his bedroom.

Wardwick was dying, Liriel could feel it as she carried his large for his age body to the relative safety of his bedroom as quickly as she could, the castle offering her the impossible shortcuts Oreg's mind had created. She began to sing again as she walked, crying for the life of the boy she had seen grow up and watched over like if he was her's. His brain was bleeding, and she knew it was the more threatening, so she sang to protect him. Her thoughts were fuzzy, and she had no idea what she was doing, ignored completely how to mend a brain. Nor how to prevent the bits of the boy's magic to defend him and attack her, not recognising her intervention as part of Hurog's magic. She had never learned about healing more than cut and bruises, she had never got the time to with Oreg when she had been alive, and her new life as ghost never provided her a way to learn. If it existed one in the first place, as those were rares and usually mortal injuries.  
Maybe alerted by her use of his shortcuts, Oreg found her as she laid the boy in his bed. The mage recognised her even if she was still in her servant's guise, singing for Wardwick to live, and she was able to see the betrayal in his violet-blue eyes.    
"Li."  
She held a finger in front of her lips so he wouldn't ask anything that may make her falter in her song. Saving the bulky boy was too important. After an hesitation, Oreg closed the distance between them, holding a hand out, to offer her his own magic. Liriel nodded in thanks, clasping her own hand inside his. It hurt as the familiar magic from the dragon mixed with her, strenghtening her own magic for the first time in centuries. For the first time since her death. It still wasn't enough, and she could feel her strenght leave her, despite the land's and Oreg's magic being poured in her. When Hurog's magic was too insistant she had to come back to the cliff and rest, she let the mage's hand go, and looked at him.  
« Please watch over him, because he'll be the one to succeed where I failed. »  
« Don't leave. »  
She held his betrayed glare with a sad smile.  
« Silly boy, I must leave. I'm only a ghost, and I'm Hurog's now. We'll meet again, if he lives. Protect him. »  
Liriel was pulled back to the cavern without time to hear an answer, and plunged in a recovering slumber. She hoped it wouldn't take centuries before she'll be able to emerge this time.   
  
  
  
  



	9. Hopes?

It took Liriel a little over a year to recover, barely, and she cringed when she saw what had happened of the smart and swift boy she had watched growing. Now, he was clumsy at his best, and seemed to have turned into an idiot. She wondered if it was her fault. If her lack of knowledge had caused his state, or if she had spared him from a worse fate.

It was difficult to find Oreg, not because he was hiding but because she couldn't use the magic that allowed her to always know where he was. It was even worse to confront him when she wanted so much be with him, and couldn't. She supposed it was the same for him, as he hided his pain behind a mask of indifference. She easily saw through to have witnessed him using it along the centuries, with his masters, but didn't said anything. 

« Believe it or not, your little protege is improving. He stayed mostly inconscious for days, then was bedridden five months. His left half was completely unresponsive, but it came back. His mind, though, seems truly lost. You didn't ... »

She hadn't the time to thank him nor to hear the end before being taken away by the darkness. Even if she could already tell what the mage would say. She hadn't done a favor to the boy by saving him if he had to stay idiot, and it would probably be even worse for the land.

It was like being back at her first awakening. She could barely stay up a few days at time, and even less if she left the cliff. Each trip to Hurog ended with a heartache and weeks of darkness. But she could see Wardwick's strengh slowly coming back, and had some hope for his mind when she found out that he could feel her ripples. Her hope strenghtened even more when she found him in the library in the middle of the night, falling asleep on a book. A book about dragons.

« You're not actually that stupid, are you ? »

He flinched as the words escaped her, but he was careful to not say anything. She crouched next to him, knowing she was barely visible, and only because his magic reacted to her's.

« You're just dreaming me, no worries. I'm just... Hurog's emmissary. Or Hurog's voice ? We're longing for you to be the hurogmestre, as you'll be able to free the dragons. »

« There is no dragon anymore. »

He had spoken slowly, like if it was hard for him to form the words, or change his thoughts in them. She simply smiled.

« I'm only a messenger. But I'm proud of you, and of the way you protect your siblings, and I think you deserve to know at least one person is. You'll be the greatest Hurogmeistre of all. »

She saw the spark of interest in his brown eyes, the shadow of the child she knew.

« Greater than Seleg ? »

She nearly bit her tongue at his slow words, but the answer was simple.

« Without any doubt , because you have a pure heart Ward. Keep it and remember that when you'll inherit Hurog. But mostly, do whatever it'll take to survive until then, save betraying yourself. Also, there is a half forgotten part of the library if you push that shelf that may give you access to things you'll be the only one to read. »

Liriel made a small ripple in Hurog's magic in front of said shelf, watching the boy's understanding before being forced to leave. She had hoped to find Oreg, but he had abandoned her old room, and she knew he had to be hidding in his own, in the cave-room she had only glimpsed once upon a time and that was now out of her reach. For no reason other than Hurog's magic defending her to enter it. Hurog's and Oreg's. That was the only part of the whole keep she was unable to go to. So knowing Ward wasn't as stupid as he seemed was worth the strain to appear to him. There was still some hope, for her land to be cleansed of her father's stain, and for Oreg to be fred. Maybe then she'll could call the dragons back in the land.

In add of the growing, and secretely smart future hurogmestre, Liriel watched over his two youngers siblings. His sister was mute, but it didn't appeared like it was from a physical problem, and in the girl's mishief, it was easy to see the spark of intelligence. She loved her brothers too, and it warmed Liriel's heart to know her champion wasn't as alone as she feared. The ghost suspected her mutism was either from the curse on the land, or the fear Fenrir caused in every of his children. Liriel had blurred memories of having heard cry or babble as baby.

On the other hand, their musician  brother, Tosten, looked so much as Oreg that it broke Liriel's heart just to look at him. There was more than the strong evidence of Hurog's blood, even if she had a hard time to point her finger on what exactly. Tosten was more delicately build than his bull of brother, and she loved to hear him play any music, softly singing without using any magic, something she had missed without knowing, and that was too often interrupted either by her lack of strengh, or, more and more, by his barbare of a father, who didn't understood anything in music and didn't recognised his son's gift. It was when his father entered in rage and threatened to break his fingres that Tosten looked the more like Oreg, there was something in his eyes, something she only fully understood the night he took a knife and turned it against himself. She had thought there would be no time for her to warn Wardwick, and that she would have to see him bled to death, not being strong enough to protect him. But the heir proved he could be quick when it was needed, and he arrived quickly enough to save his brother. 

Then, the boy she had protected from her bloodline's stain, now a solid young man of seventeen years old took the unbelievable decision to send his younger brother away, so he would be able to live a life not poisonned by their land's darkness. It was unthinkable for Liriel to find a hurogmeister who believed there was more in the world than just Hurog. Despite the loss of another of her bloodline, and the fact she would be unable to watch over Tosten out of Hurog's frontiers, it gave Liriel more hope for her land.

She made a ripple, so at the last second, Wardwick added his brother's harp to the clothes he was packing for him, then she guided them in the castle, knowing Oreg was helping her so no one would see them leave. She also sang to calm the horses so none would fuss to be awoken, and to fog the guards' minds, making them unwary of why the heirs were leaving the keep in the middle of the night. She followed the two very young men to the frontier, making sure no one and nothing would stop them, not that she had much to do save make sure the moon lighted their path.

Then she waited for Wardwick to come back and face his father's anger, not needing to be awake. Something she had done when the boy had been conceived made her too much aware of how far of the land he was. It was physically painfull each time he left, and she didn't even had a body. Fenrir was furious, but Liriel and Oreg had made sure no one had seen or remembered the eldest leaving with his brother or coming back alone, and he had no reason to suspect his idiot son was hiding something from him. He completely believed his son was as stupid as he pretended. And Tosten's dispearance was finally an help. The paranoid man may have killed Wardwick to ensure his second son's inheritance, and was wary of his heirs. But Wardwick appeared too stupid to plot against him, so he didn't saw the boy as a threat, and without Tosten, he was the designed heir, and as without him, Fenrir's own brother would be the next hurogmeistre, and he would be a dangerous successor to have. 

 


	10. griefs

When the occasion to get rid of Fenrig presented itself, in the form of an abused horse, Liriel sang to make sure the horrid man would fall on rocks, Hurog's magic reluctantly bending to her will so one was sharp enough to imbed itself between the man's ribs, and that nothing cushionned his head. She could feel his life leave him slowly and painfully, and she smiled when she saw Oreg pluck the ring from the man's finger, even if neither the agonising horogmeistre nor the mage could see her.

Later that night, as she hided in the shadows to witness the aftermath of Fenrir's death, Oreg was able to find her. He was still wearing his mask of carefull indifference.

« Your protege found Salya's bones, Liriel. He reacted like you did. »

She remembered the horror she had felt, and shook her head.

« I doubt he did, because he's not responsible. But I do know he'll be the one to free you and her. I'll finally get to see you fly. »

He refused to answer her smile, to accept her hopeful step toward him.

« Careful with what you wish little one. He probably won't free me, either for the same reason your father slaughtered a dragon, or the one you would have never done it. I'll be either too important, or the way to free me will repel him. »

Liriel shook at the assurance in the mage tone, furious that he still believed she wouldn't have kept her word and fred him, fighting to stay there despite Hurog suddenly urging her back.

« I would have fred you silly boy ! At any price. »

He turned to her, a smug and slightly cruel smile on his lips and he said.

« Would you really have been able to kill me, Li ? »

Liriel stared in horror her lover's sad smile as understanding chilled her, and she let the magic take her back to the cliff and try to comfort her. 

She stood frozen there, facing the ocean, unable to do anything even as she felt the dragon-mage and the new hurogmeistre flee Hurog. Because it was her duty, she had made sure to delay their followers, as long they were in Hurog's land, but nothing more could be done. Not by her. The little bit of her magic that run through Wardwick's veins since his conception was torn, both from her and the nineteen year old, like everytime he rode away from the land, leaving her aching and empty, but not as much as Oreg's smirk had left her.

Hurog was quiet, the land sad as its master went away, and that sort of hibernation boded well with Liriel's mood. Oreg's revelation had shaken her, more than all she had to witness. Would she have killed him if she had lived ? Even now, knowing what she knew he had endured, knowing she could have spared him all of it and that he longed for death, would she have been able to do it ?And how ? Cutting his throat, like her father had done to her ? Gutting him ? Stabbing him in the heart ? Strangling him ? The more she tried to wrap her mind aroun dit, the more she knew Oreg had been right to never hope anything from her. She would have been unable to harm him, and by such, would have harmed him in the worst way. Her only excuse was that he had never told her how to fred him, and she had stupidly thought it would need to wish it, or to destroy the ring.

And now, as her lover was far away from his land for the first time in centuries, she wondered how he felt, and if she would ever see him again, and what would happens to him if Wardwick died away from Hurog. Because the new Hurogmeistre who was supposed to save the land had flown them, and was tracked like a beast. And without him, there would be no hope left for Oreg nor Hurog.


	11. The land's master returns

Hurog's magic awoke Liriel from her morose slumber, with what felt like excitation. Wardwick was finally coming back, which meant Oreg would be too. But in add of the land's master and the resident dragon mage, there was another being with them. One that thrilled the land. A sort of dragon.  
They were coming from the ocean, and the ghost went until she reached the port, tied to the magic land and unable to go further, to her protege and the mage she loved. She couldn't see them yet, but she felt Wardwick's proximity, and saw the struggle that seemed to happen on the ship's deck. Hurog's magic was excited by this, so she supposed it was the sort of dragon? And the ant-like men were clearly trying to keep it prisonner, something she couldn't tolerate, so Liriel whispered a short song about breaking bonds in the soft breeze.   
She was sure it wasn't an actual dragon, despite not having seen any in centuries, because the creature was too short legged and unable to fly. More an overgrown lizard than a gracefull dragon. But still, it dived into the water, and apparently walked on the sand underwater straight in her direction, until it emerged. Then, it went to curl its scaled body at her feet, soaking up both into the sun and Hurog's magic.  
Up close, the reptile looked like a bastard version of the dragons she had known in another time, and it made her heart ache in longing. But she was as part of the curse on the land than her father was, being the one to have banned the magic creatures from their birth land. And until she was proven the Hurogmeistre could be trusted, however which amount of hope she had in Wardwick, she wouldn't call the dragons back. And if there were no dragons left in the world by the time that moment came... Hurog's magic would die, and maybe only creatures like the reptile at her feet would ever exist to carry their legends. 

 

Liriel fought with Oreg, one last time, short before the ship entered the port of Tyrfanning. The visibly upset mage had found her on the beach, but only to tell her Wardwick was more his father's son that she wanted to believe, and that fooling herself would do no good to anyone nor to Hurog. That the boy would sacrifice both Salya's bones and his uncle's life to be the only one to claim the land. It felt so wrong that Liriel had to sworn Wardwick wasn't like this, that Oreg had to mistook something, but once the mage had left, she wasn't as sure of herself. After all, she hadn't been the one living with Wardwick for the lasts months, she had barely known the boy and the man he had grown into. And Hurog knew she couldn't do a thing to hide the bones, her father having prevented anyone save him to touch them using Oreg.  
Still, shedding her doubts, Liriel helped the hurogmeistre by dissipating the effects of the spell cast on him, and then took a great pride to bother the mages who tried to keep hold of the basilisc. She didn't quite sang a calling, but did enough to help the beast to fight the magic keeping it prisonner, only refraining herself to liberate the creature fully because they were in the city and she didn't wanted anyone to get hurt, and she feared that the mages decided to kill it if it went completely out of their control. They finally locked the agitated creature, thinking the dragon's land had a bad effect on it's mind, maybe there were males of it's kind around, or simply it was from the darkness they could feel, if not understand.

She watched as Oreg delivered his master, and listened both men speaking about how to get out. The only way was through the room the basilisc was kept in, a better insurance than any watchdog, and Liriel was afraid for her champion. She had seen how fast the creature was. But Oreg looked at her, imploring, in a way that frightened her. To Wardwick, he said that if he could touch the basilisk for a few minutes, he'll be able to control it. But really, she knew what he was really asking from her, and she hated him a little to dare it. But she couldn't pretend to believe in Wardwick then act as if he would betray her and the dragon like her father had, so she nodded slightly, earning a smile.  
Liriel began to weave her calming song, adapting it slightly for the creature who wasn't quite a dragon, and it was hard to make it work, both because of the nature of the beast and her own reluctance. In add, Wardwick was fighting the basilisk who was more interested in a potential dinner than her calming voice, and Oreg had to be her medium to reach the beast, as she still wasn't strong enough to use her magic for long.  
Once the beast was calmed and under Oreg's control, she felt Hurog's darkness pulling her back, and she barely had time to whisper :  
« Don't let him kill her. »


End file.
